Report: Sept. 7 Event Said to be iPod Phone Debut

by , 3:00 AM EDT, August 30th, 2005

Apple's announced Sept. 7th event, will be to announce the long-awaited mobile phone and music player with iTunes capability, The New York Times reports in its Tuesday edition (free subscription required).

A telecommunications industry analyst who has been briefed on the announcement told the newspaper that the new phone, to be made by Motorola, would be marketed by Cingular Wireless. Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst with Ovum, a market research firm, said it would include iTunes software, which helps power the iPod.

"Apple, Motorola and Cingular declined to confirm or deny the report," the story stated. "But Apple did announce on Monday that it would hold a major news event on Sept. 7 in San Francisco that it indicated was music-related. Apple is routinely tight-lipped about pending product announcements, preferring to make a splash on the day of the event."

The plans outlined for an Apple phone are consistent with recent announcements by Motorola, which said in July 2004 that it planned to develop a device that would include the iTunes software. In July of this year, Motorola said that development of the iTunes phone was on track to be unveiled by the end of September.

The NYT story said it was not clear whether the iTunes phone would allow users to download songs directly from the Internet onto the phone, "though music industry analysts said they doubted that such a capability would be immediately available."

The NYT story contradicts a story from Reuters which reports Apple will use the September 7 event to possibly announce "an updated iPod Shuffle music player with much more capacity."